Across the fence

Tweet

Life can be funny sometimes?? This is my story on how i became friends with my neighbor’s boyfriend. I used to hate him. That’s the simplest way to say it, though the feeling itself was never simple. It lived in small thing; The way he used to bring different girls in his girlfriend’s house when she was not around, the way his shadow crossed my yard some of the afternoons, the way he carried himself like he belonged everywhere. The fence between our houses was just an ordinary wall. I had reasons, or at least i thought i did. Rumors about him sharpened into weapons. I told myself he was so disrespectful and arrogant, he obviously told himself i was cold?? we never checked. Everyday i saw him. Whoops?? i lie i didn’t see him everyday, he came mostly on weekends to visit his girlfriend. He would walk out of the gate without greeting anyone he found outside, sometimes with his headphones on. I pretended not to notice, but my attention stuck to him like a bruise you can’t stop pressing?? because i couldn’t understand his relationship with my neighbor. The day everything changed wasn’t dramatic. No shouting, no confrontation, just a normal greeting?? and guess what!! I didn’t laugh, i didn’t smile or maybe i did, but i didn’t yell either. He stood there awkwardly trying to get my number. The space between us suddenly opened. For the first time i saw him clearly, not the version I’d built in my head, but the real one?? I politely gave him my phone number. And then he spoke again about something small, something harmless, i answered before i could stop myself. Time passed……. Piiing!!! A message on my iPhone11????” Hi it’s me your neighbor”. Conversation happened like that, one sentence at a time. Over the next weeks we could say hi on WhatsApp. Until one day he asked if we could talk in person?? I was like Woow what a courage!! I said okay. That evening we took a walk and talked about ourselves and everything. I learned things things that didn’t fit my hatred. How he overthought about me being cold. The hatred faded like a shadow at dusk… I used to hate him. Now he’s my friend And sometimes I wonder how many fences in my life are still standing, not because they can’t be crossed, because i haven’t tried.